Just went out in the front yard for a while this afternoon and found several interesting candidates for pics with my Phoenix 100-400mm. Watching me closely was a new mom, an Eastern Phoebe whose first brood of the season hatched under our porch's eave in the last day or so (I love having these birds around--mosquito population is almost non-existent now)

The azaleas in front of the house were of great interest to a bumblebee and a butterfly

I NEVER would have thought hummingbird moth, but after looking at pictures of the Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, I can see the identification...but all my life I've avoided these things thinking they were bees. I guess you learn something every day.

Interesting subjects and exceptional photos. I like all of them, but the composition of the butterfly photo is special. Years ago, I took several slides of a hummingbird moth, but the film split right down the middle, ruining them. Nice to see yours turned out so well.

The butterfly shot is the best, but I'm partial to Hummingbird Moths, since I've only seen a few, and have never been able to get a shot of one.

This isn't a criticism, but I noticed significant camera shake on the Phoebe.

I don't know if you're aware of Focus Magic, but it can actually correct for this, in addition to being a very effective OOF sharpener. Instead of increasing contrast at the edges, as in USM and all of its variations, FM actually moves pixels using "deconvolution" algorithms. I'm finding it is more effective with the K20 than any of my other cameras, from the Panny FZ1 to the K10. I only use it at very low settings, but sometimes use multiple applications, if the image is otherwise worth the work. I can also selectively use it on portions of pics in the case of birds that just happened to move a small part of their body, blurring an otherwise good shot.

It obviously can't work miracles and bring back detail that have been lost to blur, but it can make pretty soft pics look pretty good, and the motion blur fix works well, once you figure out how to use it.

Scott

Here's your Phoebe, before and after -- it would be better with a larger file to start. . . but I think that you'll see the benefit, even tho it's subtle. I used one pass of Fix motion blur at 4 pixels at 30° and two passes of Fix OOF at 1 pixel at 75%, then used PSP smooth brush at low opacity to correct some areas of sharpening halos.

I don't know if you're aware of Focus Magic, but it can actually correct for this, in addition to being a very effective OOF sharpener. Instead of increasing contrast at the edges, as in USM and all of its variations, FM actually moves pixels using "deconvolution" algorithms. I'm finding it is more effective with the K20 than any of my other cameras, from the Panny FZ1 to the K10. I only use it at very low settings, but sometimes use multiple applications, if the image is otherwise worth the work. I can also selectively use it on portions of pics in the case of birds that just happened to move a small part of their body, blurring an otherwise good shot.

Scott,

I knew there was something that wasn't perfect on the phoebe, but I hadn't identified shake. SR is the only thing that makes the 100-400 possible because it's so long in front, but it obviously wasn't enough in this case.

I'm going to look into Focus Magic. Sounds like it could be a good program. Thanks.